In an attempt to demean her death, he triggered a controversy by saying: “First we need to check whether she was a Bangladeshi or an Indian citizen.” Through his remarks Basu wanted to insinuate that it’s the women from Bangladesh who were participating as satyagrahis. The fact is she has been a known face of the protesters. She was very active and had been demonstrating for over the past 15 days almost.

This insinuation incidentally coincides with saffron cadres firing at the protesters of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi. It is an open secret that for some time the BJP leaders have launched a denigrating campaign against the women activists of Shaheen Bagh. According to the doctors, she died of cardiac failure. Her determination to fight was so acute that she did not care for her health.

This determination of the women protesters has shaken even senior BJP leaders like Amit Shah, Anurag Thakur and Yogi Adityanath. The continuity of the movement has unnerved them. This is the reason why the BJP top-guns have launched an all-out attack on the women. Shah in his campaign for Delhi assembly election has marked Shaheen Bagh as his target. He called upon voters to press the key of EVM with such force that it sends shock waves to the participants at Shaheen Bagh. His ministerial colleague Thakur openly raised the slogan “Desh ke gaddaron ko”, to which his followers responded: “Goli maaro saalo ko”. Next day, a young man called Rambhakt Gopal fired a pistol at Jamia Millia Islamia university, in which a Kashmiri student of Jamia was injured. Two days later, a man identified as Kapil Gujjar fired in the air at Shaheen Bagh and shouted “Hindu Rashtra zindabad”.

On February 2 night, for the third time the BJP goons fired at the protesters, this time again at Jamia, outside one of the main gates. Though no one was hurt in two other incidents, situation continues to be tense.

For some time, BJP has been working on the design to evict the protesters. They have already sought the help of their trader supporters, who through their association requested Delhi Police to clear the roads leading to Shaheen Bagh, since the “traffic jams” were hurting their business interests.

The criminal and violent invasion of Shaheen Bagh was the latest in a series of attempts to intimidate the over 50-day-old peaceful protest. The day after the BJP youth fired and injured a Jamia student, a mob tried to provoke the Shaheen Bagh protesters chanting “shoot (goli maaro) the traitors”. But the unfazed women responded with “Goli nahin, phool (Not bullets but flowers).” “Desh ke in pyaron ko, phool barsaon sir par (Shower flowers on these beloved compatriots),” was the reply from the women.

On Sunday, the mob arrived waving saffron flags and demanded the police clear the site of protesters. They chanted one slogan after another: “Shaheen Bagh khali karo (Clear Shaheen Bagh)”; “Jai Sri Ram”; “Bharat Mata ki jai”….

The Hindu Sena, had earlier given a call to get Shaheen Bagh “cleared”, nevertheless scrapped their original design after the Police finally intervened. Some claimed the Hindu Mahasabha had organised the heckling; others suggested that the Hindu Sena had done it in the name of the Hindu Mahasabha.

One thing is absolutely clear: Modi and Shah are desperately trying to create enmity between Hindus and Muslims, but unfortunately they are not succeeding all that much. Modi-Shah’s frustration is all too palpable now. The Shaheen Bagh protest and its many avatars spawned in several cities and towns of India, wouldn’t have lasted without dedicated liberal Hindu support. What is interesting is that the protesters have refused to fall in Modi-Shah’s trap of instigating violence. Instead of depending on the police, the volunteers have been guarding all the entry points themselves. Constitution is the new vanguard at Shaheen Bagh and that hasn’t gone down well with Modi and Shah. (IPA Service)